The Outcast

It was bitter-sweet to think that if they did uncover the truth, the following two months would be the last that Lily would spend in the school with her friends. She liked to dream that with whatever the truth was finally out in the open, the war could stop, and she would be able to visit them as and when she wanted. But even she knew she was being naïve. There was so much bad blood between the races that even if they did stop the war, it wouldn’t make everyone friends straight away. There would be much work to be done to build relations and trust and there would still be boundaries between their people until that trust existed.

Of course, there was also the added risk that Tanith and Dia may not approve of who Lily was or forgive her for lying to them for so long. Lily let out a heavy sigh at the thought, rolling over in her bed to cuddle Kiki closer. Her falsely-green eyes picked out the silhouette of her sleeping friend through the dark; she couldn’t imagine Dia holding her race against her, but Lily doubted that she would be willing to trust so quickly after finding out just how many months Lily had kept up a lie for. They would never really know whether she was being truthful or not to them in future.

In the dark of the sleepless night, she recalled words from a book she had read. It had been in the fiction section, but it had carried some heavy phrases.

‘Lying may get you where you want, but it will never allow you the trust you need.’

It scared her that this quote was likely going to be very true in her life. So far, the one who knew the truth and the one where trust ran deep without worry, was Finn.

While planning their little excursion, the two spent more and more time together as just the two of them, and honestly, a lot of it became less about the excursion and more just relaxing in each other’s presence. Frankly, Lily was reaching a point where she couldn’t imagine going back to a life where she didn’t have Finn next to her, laughing with her, encouraging her, learning with her…

He would sit in the library and practice spells with her while they debated how to go about the search through the city for water illusions. He would tease her over most everything. He would stand and defend her if Kelsie had anything to say against the fairy, to the point the girl had just stopped bothering.

Finn was a remarkably safe person to be around, and the fact his green eyes sparkled when he smiled was just an extra bonus. While there was still nothing particularly physical about their relationship, Lily had grown fond of the warm weight of his hand interlinked with her own and the arm that often settled around her waist or her shoulders when they were sitting or walking together.

Even in her mind, it looked as though their relationship was progressing smoothly and while to them, they both claimed it to be a façade, the behaviours of them both had become second nature. More importantly, Lily didn’t feel like she would be against it becoming something that was genuine on the outside as well, she no longer felt like she was faking the dating affection she showed Finn and even shocked him a couple of times by pressing a kiss to his cheek when she had said goodnight. There was no real urge to do more though, and if Dia and Tanith were to be believed in their stories of love, then Lily couldn’t have been in love with Finn… for it seemed to be expected and known that with love came the need for physical touch like kisses and holding the other close to you. Lily felt none of that, and she didn’t think Finn did either.

So, neither of them ventured a conversation as to whether their relationship was deeper than they had said. And neither brought up what would happen when they did find out the truth and Lily went back to the Fairy Greenwood. Because whether she felt at home here or not, Lily couldn’t not go back to her parents. But that didn’t stop a small selfish part of her hoping that they didn’t find anything in Mythanissiam so her time here would be extended. It was only ever a fleeting thought, one that she scolded herself for and never spoke aloud, but it was still there.

Unfortunately, life didn’t slow down, or halt just as one wishes it. And when you have lessons, practice, friendships, laughter, sneaking around to share information with talking cats and your fake boyfriend… Well, time flies by pretty fast indeed.

By the last day when they were breaking up for the summer solstice break, Lily was sure they were ready for the search, but she was not ready to say goodbye if they succeeded. She had even found herself growing fond of the monotonous lessons of Warlock Mayai and the overly complex variations of what she would have just called potions once upon a time. In fact, she found herself wishing she had taken more time to pay attention to many more things in the school no matter how tedious or difficult they had seemed at the time.

Mostly though, she wished she had spent more time with her friends than with the books in the library.

“I’m going to miss you both,” she admitted as she hugged the curvy redhead at the entrance to the school.

“I’m going to miss you too! You better be ready for loads of fun when we get back!” Dia sounded a little teary, but then, she hadn’t seemed too excited for the summer solstice at all.

“And you better tell us everything about your overnight date” added Tanith as she wrapped her arms around them both.

“Oh yeah! We want all the goss!” Dia giggled.

“Don’t worry, I’ll tell you everything…” Lily lied, knowing that even if she came back after the break she still would not be able to tell them everything. But they were satisfied with the answer and with one last squeeze, they turned their backs and headed out of the school entrance with the little belongings they brought with them initially. All three of them had very little compared to the people leaving with crates of stuff hoovering along behind them.

“Are you ok?”

Lily jumped at the sudden voice beside her and she snapped her gaze to Finn’s kind green eyes. He knew she wasn’t ok, but she was grateful that he was allowing her to decide what she was willing to admit right before their escapade. Voicing aloud her fears, her worries, and her concerns would make it more difficult to stick to the resolve she had in the first place. So instead she merely nodded mutely and leaned her head against his shoulder in silent need for the comfort of his presence.

“Come on, we better get going too.” Finn urged after a few moments, sliding his arm around her to give a gentle squeeze before steering her towards the entrance where he had arranged an Avesibil carriage to take them to the great city. Lily had suggested they fly the whole way, but Finn argued they would need to save their energy for when they were in Mythanissiam, especially, as they would have had to have carried Kiki, Oscar and Finn’s stoat companion. This was no pleasure trip, after all.

“We’ve definitely got everything right?” Oscar asked as soon as they were all in the carriage, eyeing the single bag which Finn had by his feet.

“Couple of sets of clothes and some money for food. Do we need anything else?” Finn mused. Kiki chortled as she curled up in the spare space beside the male.

“I think we’ll be fine.” She purred softly, happily to finally be on track of a lead where Lily may take herself out of danger finally. “So long as Lil’s got enough of her potion to keep her looking witchy, the rest can be done without, no?”

“Exactly!” Finn agreed, scratching the little feline behind her ear as she stretched out her white paws before relaxing further for the ride. Lily lifted the small satchel that was slung over her shoulder and smiled.

“I definitely didn’t forget that,” she laughed. Heading into the main city of witches sounded scary enough as it was let alone walking in there without plenty of her disguise potion on hand.

Within the privacy of the carriage, there was no need for the felines to keep quiet and conversation fell into an easy rhythm between them and Finn who had no objections about his conversation partners. Every now and then, just like the cats had always done, he would glance at Lily and pull her back into the conversation if she had fallen quiet again; but she couldn’t help it, watching him with his fingers running through Kiki’s fur and meeting Oscar sarcasm with just-as-quick wit was honestly warming her heart more than she ever knew possible.

Was it possible she was falling for this boy?

Shaking her head softly, she turned her eyes to gaze out of the little carriage window as they sailed smoothly above the ground towards the great lakes. She had to admit, this corner of the world really was quite beautiful, and the horizon to the east was always graced with the mountains that made up the border between them and whatever else laid further out in the world. Perhaps, if the war could be stopped, eyes could one day look out past those mountains and see what other beauty they could find.

That scenery and the thought of a peaceful future had lulled her into a sleep before Lily could even register she was going under. It was only when she felt a hand on her shoulder shaking her slightly and a deliberately gentle voice calling her that she stirred again.

“Lil, come on, wake up. We’re here!” Finn called through her dream walls and pulled her back to reality.

Blinking her eyes open, Lily groaned very slightly, her back clicking as she sat up straighter in her seat and let out a large yawn. “Sorry…” she mumbled before turning to glance outside, realising that it was already dark.

“Don’t be, I figured you would have been nervous so wouldn’t have slept much. You got about six hours...”

“Six hours?!” Lily blanched at the information.

“Erm, yeah… that’s how long it took to get here anyway. You were obviously in need of it, so I didn’t want to wake you.” Finn smiled softly at the raised eyebrow Lily displayed. “We’ve been planning while you slept.” The two cats nodded in confirmation.

“You guys are going to go find the place we’ll be staying in, get some food, and Kiki and I will do a quick scout to see if we can find some of the mirages.” Oscar explained, while Kiki sat up straighter as though proud to have a part in the plan. “Figure, if we can find some, it reduces the amount of time you two waste walking around.”

“As we only have two nights booked, it seemed like a good idea to make it more efficient.” Finnigan added with a sheepish smile.

Lily nodded gently before answering, “Good idea.”

The anticipation of a good plan and finally finding some answers gave Lily a small spring in her step as the Avesibil brought the carriage to a halt for them to step out.

“Oh, wow!” Lily exclaimed, tilting her head back to look up towards the top of the gorgeous white stone structure she was in front of. It was the walls of an old castle which had been spruced up and now glittered in the sunlight of the late afternoon. As Finnigan guided her through the front gates, her eyes darted to the ground which was made of the same white stone but had designs patterned into it with gemstones of all colours. Every step she took caused the light to create another angle of shine, though there was an array of colours being reflected onto the white. Looking up, Lily found herself further in awe. Floating above the buildings by a few metres were twisted spires of coloured glass, a different colour over the different sections of the city but still managing to create a dance of colour any way you looked.

It should have been too much, but the colours were gentle and soft on the eye, and rather than squinting at them, Lily found himself smiling softly feeling a deep happiness in her chest.

“Mythanissiam is gorgeous,” she all but whispered, gaining a chuckle from Finnigan as he held her hand and playfully shoved against her shoulder.

“I thought you’d like it.”

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” she admitted even though that fact was obvious.

“You’ll like the inn too I think.” He smiled softly, spending perhaps a little too long looking at the glitter of green in her eyes before turning around and tugging her in the right direction. The cats trotted off in separate paths as they did so.

Because of the crowd of the city, Lily was forced to walk with her shoulder pressed close to Finnigan. Or maybe that was an excuse, she found herself not wanting to make space between them, and she smiled shyly when Finnigan let go of her hand in favour of wrapping his arm around her waist. Mythanissiam smelled of fresh flowers, a soothing scent that seemed to waft through the streets without source or end. Every now and then the scent of warm drinks or food would filter through.

“Oh, that smells good…” Lily mumbled as her stomach made her hunger known to the world around.

“Yeah? We’ll come back when we’ve checked in then,” Finnigan glanced up to the sign and mouthed the words ’The Perdi’s Head’ to himself, casting them to memory. “I’m paying.” He added with a smirk, knowing the debate they had had a few weeks ago when Lily realised that Finnigan was intending to pay for their stay here. It made sense, but she felt bad that she couldn’t contribute. He had insisted this was for a good cause, and even if it wasn’t and was just a date he would have insisted anyway.

It certainly felt like a date, but then, so did most of their time together these days. Frowning a little in protest, she bit back her arguments and leant her head against his shoulder instead. “Fine. When all this is done, I’m treating you to something.”

“You can show me around your home.” He commented with an easy smile. “Then we’ll be even.”

“Yeah, right. We don’t even use money; how could we be even after that.” Her only response was a grin and a shrug before she was pulled into a building that was tall, thin, and designed in a cloud grey colour with purple gems dotted around.

“Oh, it’s cute!” She exclaimed without thought, looking around at the timber frames of the interior. It was like the wooden world Lily was used to had come together with the stone that witches liked and merged into something dainty and beautiful to behold.

“I thought you’d like it.” The fondness of the tone caused heat to spread over her cheeks, though she didn’t shy away when he took her hand and pulled her through the entrance hall to the reception desk. The blonde-haired witch behind the counter perked up as he set his eyes on them.

“Welcome!” His voice was high and a little nasal, but his face spoke of nothing but friendliness. “You two have a reservation?”

“Sure do. One room under Byrne.”

Lily’s eyes snapped to Finnigan in surprise. They were sharing a room?! As if sensing that panic through her fingers that gripped tighter around his, Finn smiled to himself before leaning over and whispering to her. “Don’t freak out, I just couldn’t afford two. It has a couch, I’ll be on that.”

How much more considerate was this guy going to get? Sure, they weren’t actually together? Or were they? They’d both expressed that they’d be ok with it if they were… did that count as confessions? Glancing away from the beautiful male beside her, Lily attempted to quash the blush that stubbornly wouldn’t leave her cheeks.

“You know, blushing brings out those freckles more,” Finn teased, taking the key from the witch and laughing as the blush only gained a darker hue.

“Shut up…” Lily would never be proud of her quick responses.

“It’s cute.”

Lily groaned, her blush no doubt reaching her ears while Finnigan pulled her under his arm for a one-sided hug and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “Alright, I’ll stop. Come on.”

The room fit the decor of the rest of the place, the grey and purple mixture creating a calming aura while the room itself seemed to have a faint lavender scent.

“Does everywhere here smell like flowers?” Lily asked without much thought as Finnigan dumped their bag on the bed and flopped onto the sofa to check out its comfort levels.

“Oh, yeah. The council thought it would offset any negative smells of so many people and companions living in one city. My cousin works in the council so she told me.” He added at the raised eyebrow that Lily turned to him. “They were going to do food scents but just testing them out made them hungry more often.”

Lily snorted a laugh. “I can see how that would happen.”

“Just like walking past Perdi’s brought your hunger to light,” he teased. “Fancy going for food now?”

“Thought you’d never ask!” Lily chortled, her stomach grumbling again in agreement.

The interior of The Perdi’s Tail was warm, likely from the open fire that was flickering to the side of the reception desk. There were a few people heading up and down the wide wooden staircase and into the adjoining room which had the scent of roasted meat filtering through the air. There was also the rich tang of mead which Lily recalled from the Mediheim Festival.

Following Finnigan over to a table in the adjoining room, Lily glanced around before asking in a lower tone. “So, what’s a Perdi?”

“It’s short for Perdiauxilio.” Finnigan said as though that was enough of an explanation, quickly chuckling at the blank expression on Lily’s face. Clearly, that was not a name she had come across in all her books. “They’re thin cat creatures who appear only before those who are lost on a journey of which the destination is true and honourable. They are supposed to be a clear sign that the lost one should not waver on their journey as they are a good omen.”

“Oh wow, they sound amazing.”

“I suppose, there’s been no record of them since the Great War though. Apparently, they were the ones who led all the refugee children away to safety - but no one ever saw them again so I’m guessing that wasn’t true.” He finished with a small haunted look as though the idea of hundreds of tiny children disappearing was a horror he’d been told about often. Perhaps it was a similar story to keep Witch children from wandering too far just like the Macellavir was for fairies.

“Maybe they are still out there?” Lily mused, “Like, back home, we had no idea that the draconians existed. So maybe the children were guided somewhere so safe they just thrived there?”

“That could mean there’s non-magic humans out there still?”

“Imagine that, living without magic.” Lily shook her head; she certainly would not have survived without using magic to manipulate her surroundings so she could merely move around.

“They’d have to come up with so many alternatives to things.” Finnigan added with a mild excitement in his voice.

“Or everything would take a lot longer to do…” Lily reminded, causing that excitement to fall from the brunette’s face.

“Ok, maybe that wouldn’t be as fun.”

“Or convenient.”

They both chuckled before pulling themselves to sit straighter as a young witch walked over to take their order. Finnigan ordered for both, claiming he knew what Lily should be trying and that she should trust him. Of course, Lily trusted Finnigan. Though she didn’t point out that that went a lot further than food choices.

Though his food choice was amazing. Lily wasn’t quite sure what to make of the strange stack on her plate when it was set in front of her; but the layers of pasta, meat, veggies, all cooked with a mixture of tomato and cheese sauces came as a delightful shock to her tongue. It was warming to the soul and many times throughout the meal she ended up with some sauce on the corner of her mouth, blushing darkly any time Finnigan reached over without warning and stole it from her skin for a taste.

In between their talking and their laughter, Lily found there were just moments when silence fell between them in complete comfort and their eyes struggled to leave each other as though they were searching the depths for an answer to an unspoken question. It was peaceful, pleasant, and yet it set a strange fluttering alight in her stomach.

“Your white hair’s starting to come through, we should go.” Finnigan said after a long stretch once the plates were cleared. It was soft, so as not to draw attention, and Lily pulled her ponytail around to check. Sure enough, there were little white highlights beginning to show through the brown.

“Oh, I slept through when I was supposed to take it in the carriage!”

“It’s alright, it just looks like a fashion statement.” Finnigan laughed as he waved over the waitress to hand over payment for the food, adding in an undertone, “We’ll be back before your eyes or your shimmer are a problem.”

The darkness of the sky outside showed how much time they had spent inside, twisted spires glittering under the light of the stars above. The darkness kept her hair hidden well, and by the time the pair were shutting the door to her room, Lily’s hair was half white.

“Oh dear,” she muttered at seeing her reflection in the mirror over the dressing cabinet, immediately grabbing the overnight back from where it sat on the bed and rummaging for the potion.

A hand came to rest on her arm, causing her to pause and glance at Finnigan who looked almost nervous. “Can I see?”

Lily blinked at him in surprise. “What?”

“I want to see what you really look like,” his voice was barely audible as he leaned in a little to touch a few strands of white hair. “This white is gorgeous. I’d like to see all of it. Please?”

There it was again, their eyes unable to tear away from the gaze of the other.

“Really?” Lily whispered, scarcely willing to believe her ears.

“Really.” Finnigan chuckled, pushing her hair back to reveal her pointed ears which she had kept so carefully covered for so many months. The idea of Finn seeing her for exactly who she was gave her thrills shooting through her nervous system. After so long of being told to hate fairies, would he really be ok with all her features? A new fear spread through her. What if he wasn’t ok with her silver eyes and her skin’s shimmer? What if it made him pull away from her?

But what if it didn’t?

Chewing on the inside of her lip, Lily nodded her assent.

There were still many minutes where the false colour appeared to leak out of her, and Lily couldn’t help but fidget nervously while Finnigan watched her in a silence that was both comfortable and terrifying. It felt like he was judging, but his expression was soft, almost tender.

“You’re beautiful.” He breathed finally, stepping closer to run his fingers through the side of her snow-white hair. His green eyes danced with emotion that made Lily’s chest swell and tighten at the same time. His fingers left her hair to skim over the skin of her cheek, entranced for a moment by the way her silver shimmer made her glitter in the fire light of the room. They stood inches from each other, but Lily found she didn’t want to step away, if anything she wanted to be closer. Finn was looking at her as if she held more beauty than all the gemstones they’d seen that day. It made her stomach flutter and flip. As did the way his head dipped down and Lily let her body lean up to meet his lips with her own.

Her whole body lit up with delight at the contact, it was everything she had never known and it made her feel like she could fly. It was chaste, gentle, and his thumb brushed over her cheek.

“Oooo! Smooching!” Kiki’s voice caused both Lily and Finn to jump and pull apart. Both of them turned to the window where Kiki sat on her haunches looking smug, while Oscar clambered in through the open gap behind her.

“Don’t stop on our account,” Oscar teased once safely inside.

Rolling her eyes, Lily pulled back reluctantly from Finn and turned to face the cats, ignoring the blazing blush on her cheeks. “Any luck finding mirages?”

Finn dropped himself down onto the couch with a small laugh, not interrupting as the cats launched into an explanation of what they had found and where. They had searched the sectors of the city that were closest to the inn. They had found three images; the Cantonitrua, Alesrex, and Morequcor.

“The legends? Just like at Quintegia?” Lily confirmed before tilting her head slightly. “That would make sense if there’s a hidden sixth one; the six legends.”

“True, and I’ll bet the other two will be easy to find given that they aren’t just basic images,” Finn added. “We’ll ask the receptionist in the morning if they know the mirage locations and start with the two you guys didn’t get to. For now, we should get some sleep.” He ruffled Kiki’s fur, eliciting a soft purr, before he headed for the bathroom to change into sleep clothes.

“I like him,” Oscar sidled up to Lily’s side, looking pointedly at the flush on her cheeks at the words.

“Yeah. Me too.”